Britpop by Robbie Williams review: 'a bombastic tribute to a bygone musical movement'
It may not be quite as bold as his biopic Better Man, but Britpop is at least a serious attempt to usher in a new Williams era, writes Fiona Shepherd
Robbie Williams: Britpop (Columbia) ★★★
He may be all grown up and sort of sorted but Robbie Williams has never lost that need for validation. He wants that record-breaking Number One album. Thus the release of Britpop, his first album of all-new material in almost a decade, was delayed so as not to go toe-to-toe with Taylor Swift and then pulled forward from its February slot because what are we waiting for?
Williams even sounds impatient as he leaps out of the traps on Rocket - admittedly more of a Britrock than Britpop pastiche. Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi brings the riff though there is no getting around Williams’ pop voice even as he jabbers “and it works and it works til it don’t then it hurts”. Likewise, Pretty Face opens as a sub-Oasis indie chug, with Williams chucking in a snarly “hello hello” Oasis reference, but the chorus is more of a soaring pop deal.
Williams has claimed this is the debut album he wishes he had been allowed to make in 1997, back when Britpop (the genre) was Take That Kryptonite and prodigal singer Robbie wanted to play with the bad boys, even if they didn’t want to have anything to do with the boy band upstart. Britpop (the album) is not quite as bold as his biopic Better Man but is at least a serious attempt to usher in a new Williams era, ironically by paying bombastic tribute to a bygone musical movement.
Britpop itself was somewhat retrograde so the hoary stomp of Cocky channels Oasis’s 70s pub rock tendencies. Nothing else particularly opens a portal to the 90s. Bite Your Tongue is pure Sleaford Mods with its tinny beat, gothic bassline and Williams owning it in chief irritant mode before slamming into the big pop production of the chorus, while It’s Okay Until the Drugs Stop Working revisits previous symphonic pop pomp form with a touch of Tony Christie to the delivery.
All My Life is the most Williams-like tune so far, with autobiographical lyrics which are self-aware rather than self-justifying: “masochistic but I’m always entertaining, and I know I’ll die but I’ll never leave the stage.” Human is a yearning synth pop ode to AI with Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy and Coldplay’s Chris Martin in there somewhere on keys, while Morrissey - co-written with Gary Barlow of all people - is a throbbing synth pop paean to an equally maligned artist which offers comfort but also can’t resist a dig: “I’m a little like you but a lot less worthy”. If nothing more, Britpop does meet the Williams remit to let him entertain you.
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